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Date: | Sat, 5 Mar 2005 16:13:30 EST |
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John,
The key to your question about circuitry on clear plastic is the required
adhesion. There is a whole industry dedicated to plating on plastics, and many
standards and guidelines. I have inserted below information on this
business. The book is available from the National Association of Metal Finishers
and I found at least one used book site that had it, too.
Lexan is one plastic molded into connectors, and these are frequently plated
for EMI shielding. That requires temperature cycling and good adhesion.
Liquid Crystal Polymer is also a polycarbonate, so the cycle to chemically etch
Lexan for good bonding would be similar, and LCP is now sometimes used in
flex circuitry.
Keeping one side clear to view through may be more of a problem - that will
have to be masked in the chemical etch to acheive adhesion. Is your
application "see through" or "know light is coming through"?. If you can see through
plastic, by nature, it will be quite smooth - hence probably poor adhesion
from most processes - sputtering, electroless, conductive paste, etc.
Selective chemical etching where you want circuitry - possible, but you will
probably need a couple of masking steps in sequence.
Contact me off line if you want our proprietary cycle for Lexan. Sheet
thickness - no problem. Length and width of part? This industry is used to
plating automobile grilles and hubcaps. Gold finish - a matter of building up
copper thickness, and then finishing with nickel and gold.
Denny Fritz
MacDermid, Inc.
*************************
PUBLICATIONS
ASEP Standards and Guidelines for Electroplated Plastics
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(https://www.namf.org/publications/index.cfm?fuseaction=addItem&ItemID=3&CFID=2915199&CFTOKEN=19879909&mode=new) The American Society of
Electroplated Plastics (ASEP) has released its fourth edition of the ASEP
Standards and Guidelines for Electroplated Plastics, a complete technical guide
on the plating on plastics process.
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